Sparkling Shadow
by 0011010
Summary: How Twilight and Tempest become a couple


Tempest stared out of the airship as it approaching the city of Las Pegasus. Well it hadn't been to long since the storm king tried to take over Equestria, a lot had happened to her since then. With his defeat Tempest had left almost immediately to his kingdom. There was much work that needed to be done finding a new leader for the people of the storm kingdom. As well as preventing the area from falling into strife well also working to repair the damage she had done and give back the territories taken. She also wanted to help rebuild areas like those of the Hippogriffs that had been damaged. All of it had seemed a daunting task, well the storm soldiers still respected her and some even advocated for her to take over she never wanted to be a new Storm King. Well she understood the need for leadership and was happy to take charge when needed she didn't want it to be permanent. Unexpectedly she found an ally and possible friend in one of the Storm King soldiers who having apparently attended several of Fluttershy's counseling sessions was now a vocal advocate for working with Equestria.

Twilight and Tempest had also wanted to open more trade with the outer regions and make it more accessible, as a way of helping it rebuild and prosper. It was for this reason that tempest was on her way to a trade summit being held in Las Pegasus. As it happened Twilight had also been invited to appear as well and open the side festival. Equestria seemed to make any excuse to have a festival Tempest thought. Still she was happy, she had wanted to see her friend again. Well they had corresponded back and forth, these had mostly been reports about what's going on and Tempest had come to rely on Twilights broad knowledge on subject. Though the textbook sized documents she sent well detailed were a bit much. Still being able to work with somebody who was not only competent but very competent was more thrilling then Tempest expected. Gruber had not been the most competent assistant much less the Storm King. So working with somebody on her level was great. That thought was funny in itself, as she had first viewed the Princess of Friendship as nothing more than a pampered useless little pony. Now she was actually asking her for help, how times change.

Twilight could see Tempest's airship landing in the distance as the train approached Las Pegasus. They had agreed to meet at the train station and Twilight felt happy to be able to see her friend again. It amazed her that she'd acquired another former enemy as a friend just like Starlight Glimmer. In fact both of them were similar having both had no friends before and opposing her. Now Starlight was her pupil and Tempest . . . For some reason Twilight had a harder time thinking of Tempest as her pupil. She had actual puzzled over this, was it because she was a few years older, that didn't seem quite right. Both Starlight and Tempest were mature individuals. Perhaps it was her manners, Tempest had little difficulty talking to others she was just very direct with little pleasantry.

In fact Twilight rather liked Tempest honest and strait to the point attitude. Even when she had been caged Tempest had been very plain and honest about her views to Twilight. And well these views had changed Twilight had felt that Tempest hadn't been trying to hide anything and even trying to help her. As she thought about it she actually appreciated Tempests direct way of speaking. Well her friends could be direct with her when they felt it was needed their conversations tended to go off into tangents and not stay on point. Many other friends tended to treat her with over deference as a princess not confronting her, something that Tempest never did. Even the other princesses tended to keep their views to themselves well Tempest was fully willing to let Twilight know what she thought. They had been corresponding to each other regarding what was happening in the outer lands. In fact if Twilight was honest she enjoyed Tempests reports. Well not as detailed as she might get from Cadence or give herself. They were very easy to read, down to the point and gave clear information. Certainly they were a lot better than many of the reports she asked her friends to fill out about their activities and view of events. These reports tended to be less detailed, more meandering and in Rainbows case almost unintelligible so receiving a competently written report was something of a treasure.

"Twilight! Twilight!" Spikes voice rang out "we've reached the station you were daydreaming again." "Ah sorry" she replied and made her way to the exit Tempest was already waiting and Twilight took a moment to look over her friend. It had been a while since she had seen her in person and Twilight couldn't help but admire how confident she looked. It had always impressed her the aura she gave off. Twilight wished she could give of such a commanding presence one that looked so full of confidence. She looked as beautiful as ever even with the broken horn and scar on her eye. Twilight didn't care about these but she did find Tempest eyes a bit intimidating. Not because they frightened her but more because she felt that she could get lost in them and the way they seemed to look inside her. They greeted each other and decided to make their way to the venue together chatting on the way.

"So I've been meaning to ask this for a while, how did you manage to hook up with a dragon?" Tempest asked.

"Oh, one day in class they brought a dragon egg and I was able to hatch it with my magic pretty neat huh." Twilight replied happily.

Tempest was surprised by this "so Spikes your son then?" she asked. "What! No I mean yes I hatched him and its true I did most of the raising you would not believe how much a little dragon can eat. But my parents helped a bit and well Shining Armor was away at school a lot and didn't help as much Spike is more like our little brother not my kid." Twilight stammered at full pace.

"Ok" Tempest said unsurely. It sounded to her like Twilight was being a mum but she didn't know much about such things and had no sibling so she let it go. They had already arrived at the venue were the event was to take place.

A pony is a suit came up "Ms. Berrytwist, your podium is ready."

"Berrytwist? Are you going by Fizzlepop Berrytwist now?" Twilight asked.

"Well I didn't want to entirely discard my name again, and it seems to go over better. Still I think Tempest Shadow suits me better. So I'm kind of using both." Shaking her head she added "Those close to me I prefer to be called Tempest. Especially you, as it was Tempest Shadow not Fizzlepop Berrytwist you first befriended."

"Ok, I'll continue to call you Tempest." Twilight replied. "Thanks" Tempest said back.

"I'll have to attend the opening ceremony soon and it looks like you have your event. How about we meet at lunch." Twilight and Tempest then parted ways.

Tempest event had run a bit long and she could see twilight had already arrived at their meeting point. Stopping she stared at her friend, she'd had this thought before but Twilight real did stand out. It wasn't just that she had wings and was an alicorn it was something else. Like there was an aura of potential around her that just looking at her gave the feeling that there was something more just waiting to come out. I wonder if that was why I hadn't turned her to stone when I had the change that desire to see what this pony who had eluded her was capable of. Even know she felt drawn to her with a desire to see this spark grow. Or maybe it was just that she was really cute. Tempest was tempted to just continue staring but decided not to leave Twilight waiting.

They both went to lunch at a nearby restaurant and then did some touring of Las Pegasus catching up on their lives and interests. As Twilight and Tempest continued to walk down the street Twilight noticed an outdoor ice cream stand. It wasn't this that stopped her but the sight of two people she thought she knew. Was that Lyra and Bon Bon over there? They were sitting on a bench by the stand, they had an ice cream cone between them and were both licking it together. I wonder if Tempest would like to do that Twilight thought. Huh, why do I actually want to try doing that with Tempest?

"Did you want some ice cream?" Tempest voice cut in. "Aahhh, did I say that out loud?" Twilight shouted. "No" Tempest said slowly "but you were staring at that stand so intently I thought you might."

"Oh right well it might not be bad to have, what flavor do you like Tempest?" She asked happily. "Actually I've never had ice cream or maybe I did when I was a filly but don't remember. I don't usually have sugary things they're unhealthy" Tempest replied.

"Right if you don't want to we don't have to" Twilight replied. "No I think I'd like to try it with you." Tempest answered back. "Ok how about we get a basic flavor like chocolate just to try out." Going over to the stand Twilight politely asked for one chocolate ice cream cone.

"Aren't you having one?" Tempest asked. "Huh, what do you mean" Twilight sounded confused. "Well you only got one." Tempest replied back. "Oh" Twilight looked a little downcast "sorry I'll get two."

"No maybe it's better if we have one, I don't know if I'll like it so it's best not to waste, we can share it." Tempest said and Twilight seemed to perk up on hearing this.

"So did you want to eat the top part and I'll eat what's left?" Tempest asked the ice cream cone between them in Twilights hoofs. "Actually I was thinking that we could just lick it together. A sort of friendship bonding thing sharing the cone together. Just the two of us, not strange at all." Twilight new she was babbling at this point, but having incredibly made it this far she didn't want the chance to slip by.

"Ok, I don't really care." Tempest stated bring her snout closer to the cone and taking a lick. Umm, it actually didn't taste bad she was starting to understand why Gruber had liked sweets so much. That's when she noticed how close Twilights face was. She seemed to be staring into Tempests eyes intensely with her own big and Tempest had to admit beautiful eyes. Part of her wanted to look away another part couldn't. Then Twilight smooshed her snout into the ice cream. This seemed to brake her trance causing her head to jump back. Tempest couldn't help but laugh seeing chocolate dripping from her snout a confused look on her face. The fact that the mighty Princess of Friendship had failed to eat an ice cream cone was hilarious to Tempest. Twilight also started to laugh unfortunately she had also dropped the ice cream cone. She offered to get another but Tempest declined. It was getting late and both had preparations to do for the next day. As such they decided to head back to their separate places.

Tempest was in a field, flowers were all around her and she was on her back staring up at the Sun. There was a small dark dot it seemed to be getting bigger and bigger changing shape. A pair of wings formed and the body of a pony, coming closer till it seemed to encircle the sun. A small purple body Twilights softly landed above her. Tempests horn began to spark setting some of the flowers alight. Twilight gently beat her wings blowing them out. "My horn" Tempest said sadly. Twilight lowered her head letting her horn touch Tempests. "It's ok, I don't care if your horn is broken" Tempest woke with a start. She was surprised at how much time had passed. Normally she was a light sleeper a life time of surviving on her own had taught her to be vigilant even when she slept. The dream itself had also been unusual, normally she would dream about her horn and it being whole again. Yet it hadn't been in this one and for the first time she hadn't felt disappointed by that. Closing her eyes and laying down she wondered if she would see Twilight again.

Twilight was having a rougher night. She couldn't stop thinking of Tempest, particularly with the ice cream cone. I mean why had she wanted to share that cone so much with her? She had never done anything like that with Pinky, Rarity, Rainbow, Applejack or Fluttershy. It had never even occurred to her before. So why had Tempest been different, and why had she acted the way she had. Seeing Tempests gorgeous eyes so close had entranced her. Staring at her face and snout Twilight had involuntarily tried to bring hers closer forgetting there was an ice cream cone between them. It had been embarrassing but seeing Tempest smile and laugh had been somewhat worth it and "AAAHHHHH" Twilight yelled. She'd been having the same thoughts for the past two and a half hours and hadn't any sleep.

"Twilight! What's wrong?" Spike burst into her room.

"Oh, sorry it's nothing I just . . . stubbed my hoof on the bed post." She smiled and tried to sound confident.

Spike didn't look like he entirely believed this but yawned, rubbed his eye and left. Sighing Twilight rolled over in bed and tried to calculate the distance of the Sun from the Moon in the vain hope that this would keep her mind off Tempests eyes and smile.

The next day had been busy with activates all morning leaving little time for Twilight and Tempest to meet. By the afternoon there tasks were done but Twilight had to catch her train back with Spike having gone ahead with the luggage. Tempest offered to escort Twilight back and they continued to converse with each other on the way back. Just as they were coming to the station Tempest commented "You know as the Princess of Friendship perhaps you should actually travel with some guards. You're a standing target."

"Hay, I think I can take care of myself!" Twilight moved attempting to trip up Tempest. However Tempest blocked the move using her hooves to trip Twilight and pin her on the ground.

"Guess I need a little more practice." Twilight sheepishly replied staring up at Tempest.

Tempest brought her head down and smirked "I think it will be more than a little." Then she felt something wet on her lips. It slowly dawned on her that Twilight had brought her head up and now there snouts and lips were touching. Lightning like sparks began to flux from her horn and she broke the kiss.

Twilight looked kind of embarrassed and quietly replied "um, well that was spectacular" giving a small smile. Tempest smiled and replied "want to see if the second is just as spectacular" and lowered her head more sparks flying from her horn.

"Twilight! Tempest!" Spikes voice cut through and Tempest quickly jumped off Twilight as Spike appeared around the station corner. "Is something happening? I saw the light from the other side of the station."

"Um, well, its" Twilight started to stammer.

"Twilight was just interested about how my horn worked so I was giving a small demonstration" Tempest interjected.

"Right, that's it. You know how curious I am when it comes to things magical." Twilight smiled "Why don't you make sure our luggage is loaded and pick up some of those powdered gems for yourself." Spike toddled off and Twilight let out a deep sigh.

"Thanks, I didn't know how to describe that, or well I did but didn't know what it meant and." "Twilight." Tempest interjected "Do you like me? And by like I mean as more than a friend" She asked calmly.

Twilight looked like she was about to explode is a gush of word. However instead she closed her eyes breathed out and said with conviction "yes Tempest I do like you, at first I just thought it was because you were my friend but then I started wanting to be closer and thinking your smile was cute and I like your eyes and then I couldn't stop thinking about you and" Tempest put a hoof in her mouth it was obvious that if she let this continue it would go on a while. "Twilight I like you also" she said firmly "I don't know much about friendship or relationships but I know that I want you to be more than just my friend."

"Ooh that's such a relief" Twilight sighed both of them staring at each other and smiling and then in unison they asked "Now what?"

**Several years later . . . **

The "now what" would prove prescient as neither Twilight nor Tempest had any previous relationship experience. So it was very much a make it up as you go relationship. Well Twilight had some advantage having seen Shining Armor and Cadence dating. She still tended to rely heavily on charts and graphs only to find out that they didn't work and just go with her gut. Tempest was in even worse shape having never dated nor even been around anyone in a relationships. Still her unwillingness to give up and desire to give her all helped her to learn and cope.

Twilight didn't want to keep her friends in the dark and told them, something that Tempest didn't mind. She did however dither and stress out more when it came to telling the other princesses her mentors. And well Tempest was perfectly willing to just march into the throne room she had learned that this was just Twilights way of coping and she would get the courage to do it herself.

However the bigger issue for both would be there duties. With Tempest still working in the outer lands dismantling the Storm Kings kingdom and trying to make the region more easily travelled. She was also setting up an outer security watch to help protect Equestria from outside threats. This meant that she was often very far from Twilight. Who also had her own issues being a princess, running her school and saving Equestria. Meaning that they were often unable to meet regularly and their relationship had become very much long distance.

This was somewhat mitigated by Twilight ability to project herself into objects allowing them to converse despite the distance. Though Tempest would have preferred if she had told her before sending the music box. As she instinctively found it to be a very suspicious present and blasted it to pieces when it first started talking. Necessitating the acquisition of a replacement.

Still despite distance their relationship was steady, unfortunately this also meant that Tempest wasn't around when the mean 3 appeared. Arriving only just after there defeat to attend Twilight coronation. Something for which Tempest would blame herself believing that her security efforts hadn't protected Equestria and that she hadn't been able to protect her special pony.

When Twilight offered her the position of captain of the royal guard since Shining Armor had his own family and duties she readily accepted. However her extreme focus on security and draconian methods almost going so far as to lock twilight in her own castle nearly broke their relationship. Fortunately with the help of not only Twilights but Tempests friends they were able to reconcile and move on from this even.

Both of them had gone through many changed in their lives. From lost filly, to Storm King Commander, to Equestrian ambassador, to captain in Tempests case. Or from lonely student, to alicorn, to princess, to ruler in Twilights. And now they were about to experience a new change again, an event that Equestria hadn't seen in years, a royal wedding.

"Twilight what are you doing!" Luna shouted out.

"Eh, oh I had some time and as I usually don't have much right now thought I should update my history of Equestria. After all this is a big and rare event." She replied.

"Twilight you're not even married yet!" Luna cried. "When you asked me to be your bridesmaid I didn't think I would have to drag you to your own wedding."

"Ha, Ha maybe I'm just nervous" She relied. "You're not the only one" Luna retorted back "Tempests horn is so active that I'm afraid she might set some of the flower arrangements on fire."

Twilight chuckled to herself Tempest was one of the most emotionally controlled individual she knew certainly better then she was. But when she did get emotional it was spectacular. Stepping into the royal chamber she stared at her future wife. Gorgeously decked out in one of Rarity's outfits, horn crackling away and with an annoyed look that she obviously couldn't stop it. However when their eyes met Tempests expression instantly changed. She stared at her with those piercing and focused eyes, but which no longer possessed the emptiness they once had and Twilight couldn't help but fall in love all over again.

Tempest had forgot all about her horn and well still getting used to how Twilights hair moved without any breeze couldn't help but see the pony who had befriended and fallen in love with her. And who she planned to spend the rest of her if perhaps not Twilights life with.

The ceremony was quick and Tempest couldn't wait to get to the kiss. An event that nearly blew out the roof. Literally when she accidently fired of a lightning bolt.

In the past she would probably have been embarrassed by this but right now all she cared about was being with the pony she loved.


End file.
